Binary Crowns

Swarthmore Women in Computer Science event (2013).

Abbreviations:

  • [S]WiCS – [Swarthmore] Women in Computer Science

SWiCS

As part of Swarthmore College’s 2013–14 and 2014–15 WiCS leadership, I helped organize events like weekly lunches for female students and faculty, lightning talks, and workshops. As the first webmaster, I created the club’s website and compiled resources and testimonials from alumni in industry and academia.

The club was founded in 2011 and chartered in 2013. Membership was open to all female TriCo* students. Most events, including those described below, were open to all TriCo students regardless of gender, academic major, or course enrollment.
Lowercase wics cursive letters. The s' elongated tail ends in a computer mouse.
* The Tri-College Consortium consists of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore colleges.

Binary Crown Making

ℹ️ For a very brief introduction to binary, see “Why is binary important?” by Built In.

One of my favorite events was binary crown making.

Inspiration

VMWare distributed “Code Princess” shirts at the 2013 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference,* which I attended as a Grace Hopper [Student] Scholar. The shirt’s design is shown in the right-hand image below.

* The conference has since expanded to focus on gathering, supporting, and empowering women and nonbinary workers in an array of tech roles. I included the conference's full name to clarify why the shirt's theme was likely a well-intentioned (albeit problematic) choice.

Event

Inspired by the shirt’s crown, the event provided a social opportunity for all students to socialize and enjoy food while creating crowns from 1s and 0s using foam sheets, foam letters, gem stickers, glue, and more.

A sitting student with supplies spread out on the table in front of her.
Closeup of a pink t-shirt with white lettering that says 'Code Princess' with a crown formed by 1s and 0s.
A participant begins to assemble her crown (left). The VMWare "Code Princess" shirt design (right).
Ten foam crowns positioned in a semi-circle on a table.
Some participants' finished crowns.

Open Source Workshop

PS: I wanted to quickly mention another favorite event of mine—OpenHatch’s Open Source Comes to Campus in 2014.

Two women facing each other with the event's Twitter tag written on the whiteboard behind them.
Four students sitting next to each other staring at their laptop own laptop.
A participant speaks with a community mentor (left). Participants focused on the task (right).

Acknowledgments

  • The SWiCS section displays the club’s contemporary logo, designed by member Samantha Goldstein. Note: I “bolded” the logo for the club’s website. While the updated logo was more visible, the design was regrettably altered.

  • The events’ funding was primarily provided by the Swarthmore CS department.